YJA Convention 1996 07 San Francisco CA

Author(s): Young Jains of America (YJA)
Publisher: Young Jains of America YJA USA

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example are the three obeisance to the virtues of the Arihants, Siddhas, and Gurus. We will combine them all in one. Since there are no Sadhus present here in America while doing the Pratikraman, we can remove many redundant Vandanas. The area of the 12 vows for householder need some attention. We have observed that only a few people realize that they are taking vows. During the course of this Pratikraman, it will be made aware to the devotees when they are taking vows and which vows they are taking.
In our personal life these vows play a very important role. Even awareness of these vows and periodical reminders of them are bound to have some positive impact on the listener.
PRATIKRAMAN: THE RITUAL
Every year, once a year, Jains perform an annual rite called Samvatsari Pratikraman in which we hear the summary of Jainism. The Pratikraman is done on the last day of Paryushan, an important Jain festival. Usually these days come in August or September, depending upon the lunar calendar for the year.
The original Pratikraman is in the Ardhamaghdi language. The Ardhamaghdi language was spoken in the time of Mahavir, and most of our scriptures are written in it.
The etymology of the word Pratikraman is very important. Pratikraman means to "go back". This "going back" means going back into ourselves; our atma (soul). During Paryushan, we try to take our soul back to its original virtues of compassion, peace, equanimity, and forgiveness. During the Pratikraman, we repent and ask for forgiveness of various misdeeds.
A GUIDE THROUGH THE STEPS OF PRATIKRAMAN
We begin by reading the Namokar Mantra the most important of all the Mantras consisting of nine lines. Then we bow to our Guru. We ask to free ourselves from the sins of hurting other living beings while walking. Next we recite the vow of adopting Kayotsarga, the motionless posture, until completion. It is such a motionless state of body, that even though the soul is there the body behaves as if the soul left the body.
Then comes prayer to 24 Tirthankaras and all Siddhas in which we list, bow and praise the 24 Tirthankars for their great virtues. Also known as Arihants implying that they are victors over enemies such as anger, pride, deceit, greed, hatred, and jealousy.
After that, we recite the vow of Samayik, the equanimous stated of mind, speech, and body for the next 48 minutes. Then we express our respect for the virtues of our great Arihants, Siddhas, and Gurus. Finally, we express our desire for forgiveness from our lapses.
Next, we affirm to importance of knowledge and how we should treat the scriptures. We also affirm the importance of true faith and need of staying away from the hypocrites.
All of what has just been said takes approximately ten minutes. For the next 20 minutes, we talk about the 12 vows of the householder, most likely the most important part of the Pratikraman. These 12 vows have been broken down into three categories: 5 Anuvrats, 3 Gunavrats, and 5 Shiksvratas. Vrats means vow, Anu means small, Guna means enhancement, and Shiksha means learning or training. Because while living in a household life, we cannot observe vows like munis, we take lesser (minor) vows that we can abide by.
1. Five Anuvrats: The five Anuvrats are about non-violence, truth, non-stealing, non-accumulation, and self-control. In the first Anuvrat we define up to what extent we will observe the vow of nonviolence. In the second Anuvrat, we list what kind of lies we would not commit. In the third Anuvrat, we iterate our non-stealing stance. In the fourth Anuvrat, we abide to refrain from sensuality. The fifth Anuvrat is for putting limits to our desires for material wealth an not exceeding them.
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